There are a variety of uses for foam sheet material, one such use is to line the inside of cardboard shipping containers with miter cut foam sheets. These miter cut foam sheets add rigidity and structural stability to the shipping container and protect the contents being shipped. Certain types of foam also prove to be very good insulators for chilled or frozen materials as well as for warm or hot materials, thus enabling thermal sensitive materials to be shipped safely and inexpensively. Examples of such thermal sensitive materials include a variety of medical supplies such as blood, transplant organs, hazardous waste, and infectious material.
Prior art cutting devices for foam sheet material are known. These devices either fail to provide a clamping mechanism to hold the sheet material during cutting, or the clamping mechanisms are inadequate or damage the foam sheet material. In addition, the prior art devices create substantial amounts of foam dust during operation. Further, many of the prior art devices have poor length gauge mechanisms or saws that do not provide accurate and consistent cutting.